Mostly pics

Sugarloaf Mountain

Eva posted some of her pics on FB.  They turned out great (although one of the two she posted of me is absolutely hideous).  She did a good job.

Sugarloaf & Big Bear Lake

 Holcomb Valley

 Mac cat loves to lie like this.  I think that is part of the reason his back was so matted when we had to shave him.  I think he is in this position at least 50% of the time.

 I love this pic of Duane she took thru the screen.  It looks, i don't know, just peaceful.   The screen gives it a natural texture that i didn't add with PhotoShop!

She took this one on Monday PM when we were driving to Orange County.  She has some with the traffic in it as well, but i really liked this one.  Several of her pics capture a lovely quality of light, whether with fireworks, the sunset, or at the ocean.  


We chose to go to OC  early last week, so that i could spend Tuesday AM with her.  We didn't actually get to OC until late evening because of some delays at home.  But she seemed to need the extra time here to rest.  If we had gone down like normal, there only would have been just enough time to rush her to her train & nothing more.  As it was, i got to show her  a tiny bit of OC.  I really really wish we could have had the 3 extra days we asked for.  Oh well.

I took her for a manicure/pedicure.  I figured that was the quintessential thing to do in California.  She wasn't so sure about getting a manicure too, until i told her she'd get a neck/shoulder massage with it.  She chose black & white for her colors.  


There were a couple of things that i saw when she was here which concern me.  I think i need to speak to her mama about them, but that is a challenge.  We are thinking about/praying about it & i'll probably start out with a letter, so Duane can oversee what i write.  Nothing life-threatening or terribly serious.  My sis has labeled her & i find (as a former psych worker) that her label is not at all accurate & i want her to give it up.  Except, i need to be diplomatic.  

Someone i grew up with at school & church posted this on FB recently.  It is half of Brenda, Nancy, Della, & me.  I'd never thought of myself as a scrawny kid until seeing this.  (I did think myself very ugly, but not scrawny.)  I can't help but wonder if they are not standing on something in this pic & i'm not.  I remember Della as being a tiny little thing.  


I don't have many old pics scanned into my computer, but i did find these.

 The quality in them is not very good, but that's not what i'm looking at.  The little girl in blue checks is my sister Larkin.  Our mother made the checked dress & she liked frilly & lacy even when it was no longer in style.  Our dad labeled this as her 6th birthday (it may actually have been her 5th, he sometimes puts the wrong year).  I am almost 4 years older than Larkin, but i'm not all that much taller than she in these pics.  So i guess i was really short.




359

Look what wandered into our parking lot!

I was on my way out on Wednesday evening when i saw this in the parking lot at work:

 It is a mama duck with three ducklings.  My office is on a busy street & the mama had been out in the street with these three.  A lady from an apartment complex next door shooed them into our parking lot.  



She wanted to catch them & take them to a nearby duck pond, because, frankly, they were going to get smooshed in the busy street.  Lori & i tried to help.  We got the ducklings, but i messed up catching the mama.  Once the babies were caught, she flew away but kept circling the building.  The lady who shooed them said, "Oh well, i can take the babies to the rescue place & they'll raise them."  Lori & i strongly felt that they shouldn't be taken away.  As a compromise, we left them in an open box in the parking lot (it doesn't get any traffic after hours) to see if the mama would come back.  I haven't heard the outcome yet.  




I left when i did so that we didn't all get in an argument about this.  I am an animal lover, but not to the PETA extreme.  I may have strong feelings about something, but i'm not going to argue with a stranger over how to handle the ducks.  I already felt that we messed up & the babies shouldn't be taken from mama.  I meant to call Lori on Friday & find out what happened.  

I've been thinking about something i think is senseless.  In movies or on TV sometimes someone will make someone else angry & they yell, "I'll teach you!" and then they shoot them dead.  "I'll teach you?"  Seriously?  Teach implies that they can learn & change.  Killing is kind of closing the door on teaching.  




Duane sometimes gets upset with our cats or animals in the neighborhood.  He wants to "teach them a lesson" but, i'm sorry, animals don't learn unless you can catch them at that very moment.  Otherwise, it just isn't happening.  Even then it is questionable.  If i see a squirrel chewing on the wood of my deck, i can make him stop by squirting him with water, but i'm not sure it "teaches" him not to do it.  

We have "taught" our cats to not shred toilet paper or paper towels by putting those items in a place where the cats can't get to it.  That won't ever stop them or truly teach them when they have a chance to shred that.  You can't teach a cat not to knock things off a table or shelf if they enjoy doing that.  You can only teach them that if they are caught they will be punished.  

We had loud birds screaming outside our window very early this AM as the bird feeder is now empty.  Duane thinks that "teaching them" will be to never put out food again. 


We attended the Methodist church this AM.  Of all the churches we have visited thus far, i think i like it best for form of service, music, & length of service.  It also was friendly.  I doubt i'll ever really want to "join" a church again, but this is one where i wouldn't mind attending semi-regularly.  Thus far.  Once is not enough to know, i suppose.  Also, i'll be frank, much as i liked a number of good points, the sermon was a bit on the "fluff" side for me.  Now, it spoke to me very much (about letting go, rather than bite down & hang on like a dog on a chew toy), but she carried the analogy all the way thru & only minimally touched on the scripture.  I think i would find that irritating if it was a weekly occurrence.  




I threw in some pics from when Eva & i were down by the Santa Ana River.  Here is another one as well:

It shows how much snow was left on Mount San Gorgonio on 7 July.  Having snow still this late in the season is unusual.  We had a hot week last week, however, & nearly all the snow is gone now.  Our high for the year so far was 84F yesterday.  Lows are still around 50 at night.  We got some rain off & on for a few days, & so it has been more humid than is normal for us.  


The AM i was to put Eva on the train to San Diego, Duane woke up & said, "I miss her already & she's not even gone yet."  Which kind of makes me wonder about re-visiting the adoption issue, but i don't think we can.  



We talked about it, & there are simply too many obsticles in the way of us adopting.  My energy is one.  Eva was very self-entertaining.  I didn't "feel like a mama" while she was with us.  She was a guest, tho perhaps younger than most that we have.  I didn't tell her to help me with making dinner, or that this or that needed to be done.  She read books & went places with us & demanded little to nothing of us & we demanded little to nothing of her.  Parenting would be very, very different.  




She's back in KY now.  It was fun to have her while we did.  I hope she knows we care, for i've a feeling that might make a difference to her in the next year or so.  Her family is going thru so much.  



The bumper Duane ordered for That Jeep finally arrived.  It is very heavy & has a hitch mounted in it.  We have had fun trying to get it attached.  (Well, Duane mostly.)  He broke off an internal nut when trying to force a bolt inside.  I kept telling him the bolt was too big for the hole & he kept stubbornly trying to make it work.  I threaded one of the smaller bolts right in & it fit fine.  His side got stuck & it broke something internal he can't fix.  I'm having a hard time not saying "I told you so!"  (I think i have, a couple of times now.)


I think everyone is out enjoying summer, although So Cal has been very hot the last few days.  No one seems to be posting on blogs or FB or commenting.  I tell myself, "they have lives" but i'm lonely.  I miss folks.  :)  Our cell phones were off for 3 days (we think it was after a lightening strike).  Just got back coverage yesterday, but now it won't let me call anyone as "the network is busy."  We are considering changing from Sprint (after almost 10 years) to Verizon.  We'll see.




This was posted on FB by a massage school where i took some classes long ago, so i leave you with this final thought for the day:  Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.  



358

Funny bits

Well, i don't know about funny.  Do i write funny?  I don't think i do.

 

I was over at Lone Grey Squirrel blog & he posted a link to "I Write Like" that compares your own writing to that of a well-known author. I'm not sure i'll do this right, for i'm very limited in HTML experience.  It is trying to sell stuff, of course, but still fun.  If it doesn't show up here, it says i write like Stephen King.  Which isn't too surprising as i read him.  Currently re-reading The Stand, in fact.  Although, i honestly think i'm more influenced in my writing style by L.M. Montgomery or Agatha Christie. 

In case the HTML doesn't show up, here's the link:  I Write Like

 

(Well, i just put in some text from my other blog & it says i write there like Arthur Conan Doyle, so i don't know about this thing.  Fun to look at maybe.)

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

The phone is still down at our house.  When we got home yesterday, neither the phone or internet was working, which meant we have no contact with the outside world as we've never hooked up a land-line.  (Well, we did once, never used it, & eventually dropped it.)  We got the internet issue resolved, but the phones still aren't working.  We drove into town so that we could call & report it.

 

Ok, i've been doing other things today.  It is 20 minutes to 4 & we still have no phone.  For 24 hours that we know about.  We had a thunder storm go thru yesterday, so we're assuming that the cell tower was hit.  We can't get roaming, either.   

I got to go down the hill today for a while & see my friends Jessica & Jerry & their friend Janet.  (I was the only "K" at the lunch table!)  It was a joy all around.  Traffic was a b kitty up & down the hill.  I tried both front & back ways (back way down, front way up) & neither was any good.  Glad to be home.  :)

I've got more to say, & pics to share, too, but we're off the see a movie.  I'd like to see Inception, but Duane is leaning toward The Sorcerer's Apprentice.  We'll probably see that one today, & the other later.

357

Busy, busy

It has been a busy week with Eva here.  Elsa came up on Friday night & will go home later today.

  

We've taken pics, but i've not put them on my computer yet.  

I'm pretty tired.  

Yesterday Duane got a response from the Lutheran church.  It is almost incomprehensible.  I posted it at my other blog & will write of it later.  

356

Random Odd Things

I'm running out of ways to say "This 'n That."

We forgot to take our camera with us on Sunday.  (It seems like we brought everything else, including a folding picnic table & a folding hammock.)  Eva took pics but i've not seen them yet.  We ended up behind some trees & had we had the camera, it could have been a problem.  But we were free to move about in order to see better.  I kind of liked seeing the fireworks thru the silhouetted pines. 

I didn't properly credit the last ones.  Duane took all of these.  I've gotten pretty good with the camera, but i still don't do night shots well.  There are all from 2007, & 2008.

 Duane went down the hill yesterday.  I tried to get him to take That Jeep (y'know, to show it off to the guys at work) but he just laughed.  Eva & i took it to town.  We went to Farmer's Market, & i did banking & we went to a store in the Village to check on some class times (cooking/baking demonstrations).    Then we had lunch at Duane's favorite burger joint.  They do salads, too, & the most wonderful sweet potato fries.  Eva agreed that Duane's choice of burger was good.   

 

 

 

We checked out a couple of thrift stores on the way home, but only found a couple of small items.  Not that i need anything, but i think most of the purchases were mine.  A couple of the stores weren't open.  I forgot that since this is a resort town, many of the stores are closed Tue/Wed, or sometimes Thur as there is not much business then & they need some time off.  

 We got home safe.  That Jeep didn't strand us.  

I made pancakes & scrambled eggs for dinner last night.  Neither of those are Duane's favorites so i don't often make them.  

I tried the scrambled eggs differently as i'd seen a recipe & it sounded good:  Scrambled eggs with cream cheese.  The recipe i saw said to "melt" the cream cheese with butter in the pan before adding the eggs.  Most of the others i saw said to blend room temp cream cheese into the eggs.  I tried the first one.  The cream cheese didn't "melt" much, but it got quite soft.  It took much longer to cook than what i'm used to.  They did taste good, soft & rich & fluffy.  First bite reminded me almost more of a souffle than scrambled eggs, but i got used to it after that.  

 

 

Many of the days i have things planned.  This is a day without too many plans.  I may take her on the "back way" road - 38 - to do some picture hunting.  One of the churches in town with a big youth group has a dinner on Wednesdays, followed by a Bible Study.  I thought i'd take her to that as i don't know many folks in town with kids.  Well, i know a couple of girls her age, but they take summer school classes to lighten their load during the year.    

I'm finding it a challenge to keep up with the prep-work, cooking & kitchen clean up.  I guess i was hoping for something a bit different.  We probably will end up eating at least one meal "out" each day just because i can't do it.  The kitchen is downstairs waiting for me to come clean it from last night.  (Ok, i went & did that.  Still a little left to do, but it wasn't as bad as what was in my head.)

For the past week or so i've been in more pain.  It hasn't been that i've "cheated" on diet, for pain is a wonderful motivator for me.  I've found that taking cherry juice once, or maybe twice a day helps.  Too much of it acts like prune juice & i want to avoid that!  (Studies have found cherry juice as effective an anti-inflammatory as Motrin.)  To my surprise, it has helped.  My legs ache, ache, ache.  I don't think it is just sedentary lifestyle, for i'm not bed bound.  Yesterday at Farmer's Market i bought Emu oil.  I've heard good things about it.  Capsaicin cream works for me, too, however.  I'm not so sure about the Emu oil as a vegetarian.  (Just looked it up.  NOT vegetarian.)

 

 

The past week or so has been a struggle.  Also, while my sis was here, i was "up" much more than i normally am.  I wasn't doing the "Up 20 down 40" or whatever variation of that is appropriate.  So i was pretty exhausted when she left, besides having a huge mess in the kitchen waiting for me.  

I'm finding that Eva is not as apt to get carsick as Larkin had told me to expect.  Nor is she as allergic to cats.  She doesn't seem to be much bothered by the cats at all, except i notice she is careful not to pet them & prefers them not to bother her.  She is very much an introvert & a bit shy.  But she can talk, & if i press the right "button" she will be quite verbal.  She also has quite a sly sense of humor i enjoy.  We're still kind of getting to know each other.  

 

I'm thinking i'll show her my "master list" of food plans & activity & ask her to be honest with me & tell me what she'd like to do & what she'd rather not.  

Just an aside, as i'm being ADD while writing this & off to check all kinds of other things.  One of the blogs where i occasionally comment uses real words that have a black/white dichotomy (& are hard to read) instead of made up words/letters.  Yesterday my words were, "Reality Spleen."  ???  That kind of croggled my mind for a while.  

Ok, i'm simply getting bored with myself & my writing.  Here are the rest of Duane's beautiful pics that i've had waiting to add. 

 

355

4th of July!

Well, i'm more excited that Eva, Elsa, & Frye will be here than the actual celebration.

As we don't know just when they will arrive, we probably won't do church tomorrow.  

We went "garage sale-ing" today.  There are always tons of those sales up here.  I bought a bit of stuff & we found a dresser.  We re-did the "cat-free" room where my sis & Eva will stay.  I'd wanted a dresser in there to go at the foot of the twin bed.  I'll let Eva use it while she's here (if she wants) & move craft & quilting supplies into it afterward.  It is brand new, pine & we got it for $100.  I thought that was great.  The guy selling it used to own a furniture store in town.   The thrift store in town had one that would have worked for us, but they were calling it an "antique" (i don't think so) & wanted $175 for it.  I wasn't very impressed.  

So, enough for now.  

Tomorrow we are going to the Rotary Club Barbecue & fireworks.  We'll leave early afternoon to try & get parking & all.  Here are some pics of fireworks from 2007 & 2008 (we didn't go last year).  

Have a happy, safe 4th, y'all.  :)

 

354

Non-PC rant

My 20 YO niece, Ellen, just posted this on FB:

 *sigh* goodbye slim figure, hello pregnant body!

Really!  Do i have to know this?  I don't have a slim figure or a pregnant body or children to justify the lack of slim figure.  :(   

I think it human tendency to do a "one-upsmanship" of pain on one another.  I went to lunch with a dear, sweet lady not too long ago.  I spoke of the pain of remaining childless.  She sympathized, but came off with, "Well at least you didn't have 4 just to see 2 of them die."  

She's right.  I didn't.  But, of course part of me responds (not verbally to her), "Well, at least you had the joy of their birth & their raising, & giving your husband children, even if you had the sorrow of losing them.  At least you got to be called 'mama' even with the sorrow that came.  I never had any of that & i never will."

Why is it we do these things?  I said once to someone after being asked if we had children, "No, God hasn't blessed us that way."  Her response was, "If you don't have children, don't blame God.  There are lots of children out there needing homes.  !!!

She didn't know me.  She didn't know my circumstances.  Yet she felt free to lecture me on something which was 1. not her business & 2. not comprehending the complexity in our "choice."  

It hasn't felt like a choice to us.  It is something imposed on us by circumstance.  

Why do we do this to each other?  "My pain is so much worse than yours."  

I'm no better.  If i responded (which i will not), it would be essentially saying, "You think you know pain, little girl?  Wait.  You will never know that much pain.  Just imagine being more than twice your age, no children, no slim body, & knowing you will never, ever know the joy of having a child.  Never to be called 'mama.'  All those years waiting for something that will never come.  Don't go sniveling to me about how your body is expanding with your baby.  I don't want to hear it.  I don't want to hear, ' ick, none of my clothes fit anymore! This is getting really depressing.' Keep it to yourself!"

 

Lack of empathy is not helpful of course.  But i do think there is the tendency in us to say, "At least you had __________."  ("I'm so much worse off.")

I don't have an answer to this, except to try to focus to keep myself "content whatever the circumstance."  (Philippians 4:11)  And continually having an attitude of thankfulness helps with this.  Still, at times it is hard not to complain.  That's why i need to stop here.  Anything more i might say would not only be non-PC, but might get downright rude.

353

Create?

Gitz is one of my favorite bloggers.  She is uplifting & upbeat & up about everything.  :)




She's begun a "You : Create" series, today is the first day.  So here are some pics.

 I've shared these before.  They are a project i'm working on, but haven't gotten very far with yet.  (I did try to sew one of the bottom ones up.  Utter disaster.  Going to have to work at it harder.)

 The only other thing i can create today is playing with Photoshop Elements & seeing what i can do with this squirrel.  I took this pic a week or so back as this little guy was  sitting on the deck nomming down an almond.  (I just realized this is Mister Three Paws.  He is missing his R hind paw, but seems to get around just fine.  In fact, he is "top squirrel" of the very competitive squirrel community.)

 These started to all look the same to me, especially in thumbnail.  But it was fun.  I need to learn how to use PSE more efficiently.  

Go check her out & the other things folks have created.  :) 

Eva is in So Cal (with Elsa).  They will arrive to be with us on Sunday AM.  Yeah!  :)



352

Brief

Can i be brief?  I'm not sure.

We missed church all the month of June until today.  The first Sunday after the excommunication, i simply wasn't in the mood to go to any church, anywhere.  The following Sunday Duane was away for a SAR commitment.  The one after that was Father's Day & we never attend either that or Mother's Day (although Duane was off the mountain that day, too).  


So today was our first day at a service for the month.  We tried out a small church that is affiliated with Assemblies of God.  Very passionate church.  I liked that there are a lot of children there.  I don't think either Duane or i would be comfortable attending there often.


The truth of the matter is that we like liturgical services.  They are what Duane was raised with.  They are part of a healing in my life coming out of an unhealthy church background.  They feel "safe" to me - i know what is going to happen when & what to expect (except when G was doing the service!).  And, frankly, most Protestant churches that are non-liturgical feel incomplete & unbalanced to me.  The lack of the liturgy is such a loss.  Also the loss of regular communion.  


So, "home" is probably not to be found.  But that's ok.  Church hopping feels fine for now.  I'd like to get involved in a "small group" so that we can meet others & perhaps make deeper connections.  But, maybe in time.  


Maybe, because the page is so wide now, this will look brief!  :)

351